Nicolai gazed down at the Major Node forming on his palm. The Node was his world, his entire focus. There was no more.

  This is a fight, he told the Thrill. The most important fight. A fight against the world itself, as it tries to keep me down, to deny me.

  The Thrill was not convinced.

  A fight as it tries to stop me improving! Stop me becoming stronger! Stop me reaching the peak of my combat potential!

  The Thrill stirred, considering, and then in a sudden rush it lunged and joined with him.

  Oma poured and seethed, glittering and shimmering and perfect. The strands wove into position, and every movement was exact.

  The fifth layer was reached, and Nicolai’s pushed onwards. But then, he felt it once again.

  Coming quick, bearing down on him. The moment where it would break, where he would fail. The moment where all the Oma—almost fifty crystals, in total—he’d stuffed into this practise Node would be wasted as it blew up.

  Not this time. Nicolai ceased his efforts to complete the fifth layer, abandoning it. Instead he rapidly plugged the holes he’d left, and squeezed at the Node, finalising it, stage by stage. As the did so the mental load decreased in chunks, as the Node was solidified.

  With a click that sent ripples surging through the Aura, it was done. The Node was finalised. All it was now was a marker for how far he had gotten, and a bigger Oma crystal. Nicolai knew from last time that he wouldn’t get all of the fifty crystals worth of Oma he’d invested into it back. He’d be lucky to get half that, twenty-five crystals worth. But even so that was a significant amount and it was far better to have the cost halfway refunded than lose practically all the Oma, as he had last time. His first failed attempt had taken about forty five crystals and he’d only gotten perhaps five Nodes worth of Oma back by drawing on what was in the air before it dissipated. That was forty crystals gone, plus around twenty five from this latest attempt. Seventy five crystals he’d used, and all in practise.

  Still, the practise was necessary, and he wasn’t bothered.

  Because he had confirmed it. He’d done it. There had only been another two-thirds of the fifth layer to go. He was certain that once he was working inside of himself he would be able to manage that. And, he still had plenty of crystals; around three hundred remained to him. If one Major Node took fifty crystals, then he could make six of them.

  ‘I can do it,’ he told Kleos with great satisfaction, holding the incomplete Node in his palm, gazing at it. He could see that it was collapsing, in some slow way. Oma vented from it in a slow but continuous jet.

  The head snorted. ‘I had a feeling you would.’ It sighed. ‘Some people have all the luck,’ it murmured.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well. Look at you. High aptitude. Naturally skilled with at Cultivation, just… good at it. Not everyone finds it so easy.’

  Nicolai took that in silently, thoughtfully. ‘Most find it harder?’

  ‘Much harder. It’s also very fortunate you found that Small Silver Ant. Symbiotes like that are hugely valuable at times like this, where you want anything you can get to take you over a breakpoint.’

  Nicolai was quite pleased to hear that. He had a natural edge. That was always a good thing. Regardless, he intended to work as hard as possible, to strive for every advantage he could seize, in spite of his apparent talent. But it was a good sign. There were people who believed that anything could be accomplished—no matter one’s talent—with simple hard work.

  Nicolai disagreed, and he had evidence on his side. Sports were the best comparison. If you looked at the upper ranks, the top competitors… you would soon see that all of them worked very, very hard. But that wasn’t all. They had talent. They had a body suited to their sport (the higher the population, the more inevitable it becomes that those with a perfectly formed body end up in the sport nature accidentally deigned them for). They had begun training in their formative years, when the mind and body were most able to adjust. This was why they were at the top; because there are a lot of people, and working hard is something many are capable of.

  At the end of the day, more than that is required. In fact, when it comes to being the best at any one thing, working hard is such a basic requirement that it might as well be assumed that everyone is working their hardest.

  One needs some kind of natural edge alongside that. The fact that according to Kleos he had that edge, was quite encouraging.

  I can go all the way. I can reach the peak. I can be the best. Nicolai’s hands tightened around the Node, a tiny grin forming.

  ‘Good,’ he said to Kleos.

  Time to get started.

  ###

  The fourth layer was completed, the fifth was almost there. It was significantly easier now he was working within his Soul rather than outside of it, as he’d known it would be.

  But there was a sticking point, he felt it as he approached the end. Some additional effort of will was required, an extra oomph that hadn’t been necessary when forcefully finalising the unfinished practise Node.

  And yet, Nicolai didn’t struggle. Because now it mattered. Now if he failed he would blow his arm off and possibly kill himself and the wonderful danger of this meant the thrill was in full flow, the whole process become something beautiful and full of meaning, dancing on the edge.

  His breath exhaled in a hiss and he clenched his hand as the put the final touches in place, sealed all the holes, and with a powerful ringing Aura ripple and a surge of exhilaration all through his Soul and body, it was done.

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  He heard Kleos let out a relieved mutter, joined by Maric, who had woken up in the last few minutes.

  ‘Well done,’ said Kleos, and it released a significant sigh. ‘That’s good. You… most people wouldn’t have been able to do that. They’d have had to wait, to go the slow route.’

  ‘Lucky, is what I call it,’ muttered an irritable Maric in a tone that struck Nicolai as rather bitter. ‘You should get some rest.’

  ‘Get some rest?’ Not likely. Nicolai had another Major Node to build, and he knew that now was the time. His Soul was tingling with phantom sensations, shadows of the Node creation process which were engraved into him. It had been tiring. It had been exhausting. But it was better to do it now while it was so fresh in his mind, while he knew exactly what to do, than to wait.

  Initially, he hadn’t been sure as to how many he would build at this time. One, or two, or three. The “ideal” would be to have a hand, brain, and stomach Major Node. These would be the most useful to him in his current state. But each finalising Major Node would be another significant passive drain, while he was already afflicted by Soul Rot.

  But as he’d considered he’d realised that the Soul Rot was the reason why he needed all three now, why he couldn’t wait and play it safe with just one or two.

  He was currently just barely capable of reaching that invisible breakpoint, the level of spiritual strength necessary to construct a Major Node. But with every minute and every hour the Soul Rot was grinding away at his Soul.

  The Soul Rot was a slow process, but it was imperceptibly weakening him on a constant basis. It could be that in just a few more hours, he would find himself suddenly below that breakpoint and no longer able to construct a Major Node.

  Therefore, he ought to build all the relevant and important ones right here and now.

  That said, he did have a little time before he once more dove into the Node building, and so opted to quickly test his new Node. The Node was not finished, but he sent his Grasping Finger Symbiote into it regardless. It arrived, and moved into the Node, and there he found that nothing had changed. It worked exactly the same as before, when he’d had the temporary minor Node there. He’d have to wait until it finished finalising to get the full improved benefits, but at least he would not be momentarily weaker while he waited for the Major Node to finish finalising.

  As he did this, his inner gaze caught on the actions of his forming Major Node. It was doing something a little interesting with the tithe of Oma it received from his heart—which was quite a weighty tithe, at least three times that which a minor Node would have received. It was keeping some of the Oma for itself, working on its structure, but the rest it sent out. He found five little streams of Oma running to the pads of his fingers and thumb, where it seemed to be building more Nodes. It was only beginning the structure, but as he examined the five little nubs he determined they would end up as very small Nodes. Tiny in fact, not classable as minor Nodes, but as he observed the process he felt they were Nodes nonetheless.

  Subsidiary Nodes, of some sort?

  ‘How do hand Nodes work?’ he asked Kleos. ‘Mine is building things inside of my fingers.’

  ‘Hands are special,’ said the head. ‘Well, all Major Nodes are special, I suppose. They all work a bit different. But hands can do more than most; each hand Node will build a few offshoots. How do you think you’d use multiple purely offensive Symbiotes? That’s how. Actually, oftentimes when you find a Symbiote that seems meant for the hand, it’s actually meant for a finger.’

  ‘The Grasping and Repulsive Fingers,’ said Nicolai, nodding. ‘What goes in the actual hand Node?’

  ‘Lots of choices. Often one will put some kind of shield Symbiote in there. Or if you’re going fully offensive, you could have one that would empower your finger Symbiotes. It’s common to try and develop a set of Symbiotes that all work together in some manner, or at least where specific areas are all of a similar type. Say you had some kind of hand based lightning Symbiote, feeding into a few more lightning Symbiotes in your fingers. You could then have additional Symbiotes designed to make that lightning stronger through your arm. These would link together with it, empowering it, and would also form a link with the lightning Symbiote in your heart Node. That’s the best way to get some real bite in your attacks—form a linkage all the way from heart to hand. Risky business, though. Normally people put some kind of Skin Shield Symbiote in their heart, which is best suited for them.’

  ‘Interesting,’ murmured Nicolai. Powerful attacks would be good to have, he supposed. Though currently he was finding the new magic of this world useful more for utility and defensive purposes, while guns were his preference for the actual killing part. Depending on what Symbiotes and weapons he ended up with he might opt to continue in that vein, but he was always up for trying something new.

  No matter. For now he had something more important to do. He gathered the crystals he’d need, moved his internal awareness through his body and into his brain. The point of potential was near his brainstem, in a pad of flesh which he was happy to see was not actual brain matter, just to the side of where his brainstem met the tip of his spine.

  Nicolai got started, and the world faded around him.

  ###

  He didn’t know how much time had passed, but the job was done. Fifty more crystals had become a new Major Node, which was sitting comfortably at the base of his brain, sucking its tithe of Oma from his other finished Nodes.

  After that he had barely paused, immediately moving on to create his stomach Major Node. It was located on upper portion of his stomach, nestled like a strange tumour in its side. He was down to 150 Oma crystals, and he absently drained one dry.

  User Interface 376 | User #53,217

  - Cultivation

  Total Nodes: 1 Major, 5 Minor

  Total Oma: 228

  Available unconstructed Nodes: 5 Major, 0 Minor

  Nodes in progress;

  Right Hand (Finalising: 1%)

  Brain (Finalising: 1%)

  Stomach (Finalising: 1%)

  Maximum Oma: 228

  Completed Nodes;

  Heart (Flawless) (64/100)

  Right Lung (B) (1/24)

  Left Lung (B) (1/25)

  Right Kidney (B) (1/26)

  Left Kidney (B) (1/26)

  Windpipe (A) (1/27)

  Now to finalise the Nodes. Nicolai’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the wall, and imagined the future.

  It would take between one and two weeks for his Nodes to finalise. A few days less if he used the Small Silver Ant.

  He predicted that at the current rate of expenditure—three major Nodes plus his Soul’s effort fighting back the Soul Rot—he would be down about four Oma crystals an hour.

  That meant his stock would run out within two days. Fortunately, he had a solution to this, something he’d learned from Kleos and Maric.

  It was a method called throttling, and involved cutting down the expenditure of Oma to his finalising Nodes to the absolute bare minimum.

  By doing so, he would allow them to be maintained and prevent them from going unstable, resulting in a detonation. However, the Nodes would not make any progress. They would remain at 1%. The cost would be reduced significantly however, going from something equivalent to nine Minor Nodes at once, to being only as much of one or two.

  That, plus the cost of the Soul Rot, minus his passive rate of regeneration, would put him at a loss of perhaps half a Node an hour. He would be able to last for almost two weeks on his current supply of Oma crystals.

  This was an acceptable to him because Nicolai did not intend to use Oma crystals to complete these Nodes. He had built them simply because he would soon fall below the breakpoint and thus be unable to build any Major Nodes.

  He would finalise them by utilising the Yin Yang Rotation Pills available at the Trade Link. His plan, then, was to accrue significant points as quickly as possible—a plan already in motion through his work on the coalition.

  Tomorrow he and Maxine would be going to meet some leaders interested in joining the Coalition, a time when he would also be able to arrange some trades.